International-Business-Dr-R-Chandran-E-book

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International Business- Dr. R. Chandran
contained politically offensive material including phrases like
“communist bandits”. Microsoft agreed to change the material for reentry.
CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT
The cultural environment for international business refers to the
set of factors which shape the material and psychological
development of a nation and represents the primary influence
on individual lifestyle, attitude, pre-deposition and behavior as
consumers in the market. The most important task of
international business is to identify relevant similarities and
differences among countries, and means and methods to match
the organization’s culture with that of the country of its
operation. For example, when Toshiba gained 100 percent
ownership of Rank-Toshiba in the Plymouth all the managers in
charge learnt the British Style of working.
Working it is the operation of a business or dealing with
customers one cannot overlook cultural elements. The
performance of a company in the international arena partly
depends on how well the strategic elements fit into the culture
of the host country. Culture may be described as the totality of
the complex and learned behavior of members of a given
society. Elements of culture include beliefs, art, morale, code of
conduct and customs. Culture has the following three
characteristics:
- It is learned: acquired by people over time through
their membership in a group that transmits culture from
generation to generation.
- It is interrelated: i.e. one aspect of the culture is
connected with another part, e.g. religion and marriage,
or business and social status.
- It is shared: i.e. tenets of a culture extend to other
members of the group.
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